Life in Communist East Germany was 'almost comfortable' at times, Merkel says

Life in Communist East Germany was 'almost comfortable' at times, Merkel says

BERLIN (Reuters) - Life in the Communist-ruled German Democratic Republic (GDR) was simpler and sometimes could be "almost comfortable in a certain way", Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up in the former East, told Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

In an interview with the German daily released ahead of Saturday's 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Merkel said western Germany had a "rather stereotypical notion" of the East.

There are a lot of people, she said, "who simply had a hard time understanding that there was a difference between the GDR state and the individual life of the GDR citizens."

"I've been asked if you could be happy in the GDR, and if you could laugh. Yes, and myself and many others attached great importance to being able to look (ourselves) in the mirror each day, but we made compromises," she said.

"Many people didn't want to escape every day or get imprisoned. This feeling is difficult to convey."

Born in Hamburg in 1954, Merkel moved with her family to East Germany as a baby when her father, Horst Kasner, was offered a job as a pastor there. She grew up in Templin, a small town north of Berlin surrounded by rolling hills and picturesque lakes.

Although her father belonged to a wing of the Protestant church that worked with, not against, the political system, the family was viewed as suspect by the Communist authorities because of his religious role.

The fall of the wall, which had divided East and West Germany in Berlin for nearly three decades and became a potent symbol of the Cold War, was followed a year later by the reunification of Germany.

Reflecting on the time it has taken Germany's east to adjust to reunification, Merkel told the Sueddeutsche: "The efforts of freedom, to have to decide everything, have to be learned."

"Life in the GDR was sometimes almost comfortable in a certain way, because there were some things one simply couldn't influence," she added.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Saturday he hoped that some of the U.S. troops that are set to be removed from Germany will be reassigned to Poland. U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to cut the number of U.S. troops stationed in Germany, a senior U.S. official said on Friday. The move would reduce the U.S. troop presence in Germany by 9,500 troops from the 34,500 troops that are currently permanently assigned there.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday condemned the death in US police custody of George Floyd as "murder", saying that "racism is something terrible". Asked about US President Donald Trump's role in the unrest sweeping the country, Merkel said while she tries "to bring people together, to seek reconciliation", the US leader's "political style is a very controversial one". Merkel has been a pointed critic of Trump's stance including on his go-it-alone style that sidelines international cooperation.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday firmly rejected suggestions that she might seek a fifth term at the helm or is reconsidering a pledge to leave politics when her current government leaves office. Merkel's center-right Union bloc has seen its poll ratings climb since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, benefiting from a well-regarded responseto the public health crisis. Last month, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer - a conservative ally who has clashed with Merkel in the past over migration policy - said he had heard more frequent talk recently of a fifth term for the chancellor.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday she is "absolutely not" planning to stand for reelection to a fifth term despite her overwhelming popularity. "No, absolutely not," Merkel told reporters from public broadcaster ZDF, saying her decision was "very firm". The 65-year-old chancellor enjoys unparallelled popularity in her home country, with 71 percent of people saying they were satisfied with her performance in a poll for public broadcaster ARD also published Thursday.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked with *